Rat City Rollergirls revive old rivalries and start new ones in Bout 1 of Season 9

Rat City Rollergirls revive old rivalries and start new ones in Bout 1 of Season 9

By Peter Cozine

Credit: Stephen Giang

The Rat City Roller Girls rolled into Season 9 at KeyArena on Saturday, January 19th with a doubleheader bout that included home team rivalries and regional play against Vancouver, B.C. With a crowd of 4,000 strong, the first bout of the evening between Rat City’s Throttle Rockets and Sockit Wenches set a fierce pace for Season 9 with a nail-biting win down to the final jam. The second match-up between Vancouver’s Faster Pussycats of Terminal City Rollergirls and Rat City’s Derby Liberation Front, highlighted regional athleticism and competition. Both bouts showcased a new rule set which included the elimination of minor penalties and a singular whistle to start each two minute jam clock.

Sockit Wenches 176 vs. Throttle Rockets 163

The Throttle Rockets (TR) and Sockit Wenches (SW) played a close, back and forth offensive battle. In the end the Sockit Wenches came away with the first win of Season 9 against a strong and revitalized Throttle Rocket team.

Jumping to an early lead in the fourth jam, Sami Automatic (SW) pushed the score to 26-8 by scoring a 20-point jam for her team. Both teams continued to battle, but a power jam in favor of TR in the 13th jam gave them a narrow lead with score of 53-47. At this point TR seemed to have a full head of steam but SW continued to play some smash-mouth derby and kept TR from building a substantial lead. Jams 14 and 15 were penalty festivals, as jammers for both teams served penalty minutes in both jams. Capitalizing off of a penalty to the SW jammer, Luna Negra (TR) dug deep and scored a 15-point jam, surging her team to its largest lead of the night 77-64.

Both teams came out of half time ready to continue the hard-hitting roller derby action. Sami Automatic won lead jammer and scored 4 points to begin SW comeback. Great jamming from The Neutrino (SW) and Belle Tolls (SW) allowed SW to creep back into the game, closing the gap with each jam. In the 16th jam of the second half SW got an opportunity and took advantage of it. Luna Negra (TR) was sent to the penalty box, allowing Penny Racer to outscore (TR) by 16 points.

SW were regaining momentum and their fans were rocking KeyArena. TR captain Panda Beer stepped to the jammer line and showed some gutsy play by collecting 15 points, TR pulled ahead to a lead of 161-149 with time running out on the game clock.

Credit: Danny Ngan

Not to be outdone by TR, clutch jammer Sami Automatic (SW) jammed 3 of the final 4 jams, taking advantage of a penalty against TR by scoring 19 points in the second to last jam. In the final jam Sami Automatic was able to win lead jammer, score a few points and run down the clock in-style, leading her team to a victory with a final score of 176-163.

Next up: On February 9, TR will take on last year’s league champions Grave Danger. SW will face another international match-up against the Bad Reputations also from Vancouver, B.C.

Scoring Recap

Sockit Wenches

Throttle Rockets

#357 Sami Automatic

67

#911 Luna Negra

59

#2 Penny Racer

45

#330 Panda Beer

40

#4 Belle Tolls

28

#321 Missile America

29

#1001 The Neutrino

27

#1618 Sintripetal Force

25

#6 Anya Heels

4

#070 Parker Eyeout

10

Derby Liberation Front 262 vs. Faster Pussycats 157

Credit: Stephen Giang

In the second bout of the evening Rat City’s Derby Liberation Front (DLF) played an international match up against Vancouver’s Faster Pussycats (FS) of Terminal City Rollergirls.

DLF took an early lead when Raven Luna C scored 25 points in the second jam. DLF was able to execute their offensive strategy with precision as they continued to get big jams from Kamikaze Kim, Full Nelson, and AviHater. FP relied on their jammers Tiki Timebomb, Kim Janna and NazDroveya Wylde to try and find a way to stay in the game against a physical and aggressive unit of DLF blockers.

DLF asserted their will against FP throughout the first half, capitalizing on penalties, and making use of defensive and offensive blocking. The first half ended with a score of 162-73 in favor of DLF.

In the second half, FP were able to shore-up their defense and jammer Tiki Timebomb was able to capitalize on some timely penalties against DLF, scoring 15 points in the ninth and 12th jams of the second half. Blocker Amazombie played a crucial role for FP with her offensive and defensive blocking, helping jammer NazDroveya Wylde produce a monstrous 83 pts.

Credit: Danny Ngan

Despite the improvements made during half time, DLF continued to outscore the FP and were able to finish the bout with a commanding lead. DLF jammer Raven Luna C finished with 88pts, as the highest scoring jammer from both bouts.

DLF prepares for their first home team game on February 23 to begin their campaign for the Rat City Rollergirls Season 9 championship.